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10 Dec 2016 1:47:18am

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No matter how you parse the original tweet, it involves Wallace placing himself inside the heads of the young Australians serving at Gallipoli and making a judgement on their behalf about today's Australia.

Two great-uncles, Oliver and Joseph Cumberland, fell at Gallipoli. Having read Oliver's letters home, and visited their memorial in Scone, I find Wallace's presumptions about what they fought for deeply offensive. I am even more offended that Wallace attempted yesterday to explain away the condemnation of his comments first with a lie ("I’ve been on Twitter seriously for one week"), and second as the same thing that happened to Stephanie Rice (as if Rice's comments weren't offensive, only the reaction).

Rice's fulsome apology is worth re-reading:

"I owe it to those who I have offended to publicly say, I am sorry. It is not me to give offence to other people no matter who they are," Rice said. "I am not a person who judges others or speaks in a way that hurts others. My comments were thoughtless and careless but I can assure you when I made those comments on Twitter I never intended to offend anybody. I've learned a lot in the last couple of days. I've learned I must think before I speak and this has been a very important lesson. I've also learned that some things you say can mean more to others than they do to you."

Mr Wallace would do well to reflect on how his own response measures up to this twenty-two-year-old's.